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Further deaths suspected in Uganda Ebola outbreak

Ugandan Military Police officers help in collecting garbage at Makindye Division, a Kampala suburb during a cleaning exercise

Two more people are suspected to have died of the Ebola virus, while 11 more have been put in isolation in western Uganda.

So far 14 people are confirmed to have died of the disease. Ugandan officials fear a repeat of a devastating outbreak in 2000 when 425 people were infected, more than half of whom died.

Dan Kyamanywa, health officer for Kibaale district where the outbreak had started, said that villagers had called medical officials to report that two more people had died, including a five-year old boy.

Mr Kyamanywa said the latest deaths also occurred in Kibaale, about 170km west of the capital, and near the Democratic Republic of Congo where the virus first emerged in 1976, taking its name from the Ebola River.

He said: "We got calls this morning about these two deaths which occurred in two different villages yesterday evening.

"The team that we sent says the initial clinical signs that the patients exhibited are typical of Ebola ... also since yesterday, we have admitted 11 more suspected Ebola patients who are now in isolation."